Axelsen shows class to claim All England men’s singles title
Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen dominated the battle of men’s singles top seeds to walk away with the All England Championship crown yesterday.
Axelsen became the first Dane to claim the coveted men’s singles title in 20 years as he tamed Taiwanese top seed Chou Tien-chen in the US$1.1 million BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament final in Birmingham.
Chou tried to kick-start a recovery in the second game, but there was little he could do to stop his Danish opponent from claiming a 21-13, 21-14 victory.
Earlier, Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota were crowned women’s doubles champions at the
prestigious tournament.
The world No.3 pair overwhelmed China’s Du Yue and Li Yinhui 21-13, 21-15 in the first of five finals yesterday.
Fukushima and Hirota defeated seventh-ranked Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo 21-12, 21-12 in an all-Japanese semi-final on Saturday.
The loss placed a roadblock in the way of Rio Games gold medallists Takahashi and Matsutomo’s bid to defend their crown at the Tokyo Olympics.
The Badminton World Federation has suspended all of its sanctioned tournaments from March 16 to April 12 in response to the global coronavirus pandemic, effectively making the All England Open the last qualifying event for Tokyo 2020.
Under existing plans, Olympic qualification will be based on the world rankings released on April 30. The BWF, however, is set to make a further announcement on regulations related to qualification for the July 24-Aug 9 Games “at a later date”.
Japan’s Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara, who were knocked out in the quarter-finals, currently sit second in the world rankings.
Thai hopes Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai were due to meet Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti of Indonesia in the mixed doubles final.
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying, who made it to the final for the fourth straight year, was due to face women’s defending champion Chen Yufei of China.
Indonesia’s Marcus Gideon and Kevin Sukamuljo and Japan’s Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe were to meet in the men’s doubles decider.